GREENE — Three weeks ago, Mary Ellen Labrecque didn’t feel well.
A doctor’s visit revealed a heart attack, then, heart failure. The 44-year-old nurse spent two weeks in a medically induced coma.
Her husband, Bruce, has stayed by her side in a Boston hospital. Family and friends who rallied around their four young children hope to remodel and repair the Labrecques’ house before Mary Ellen comes home.
She’ll be tethered to a 45-pound compressor, so stairs are out. Everything has to be sterile, so the creeping mold in their basement has to go.
“She’s one of the nicest people,” said Vickie Rucker, Mary Ellen’s sister-in-law and a fundraising organizer. “She just has a beautiful heart.”
Among the many events in the works, a potluck dinner and silent auction are planned at Greene Central School on April 23.
Family members are staying with the Labrecques’ two younger children, Tabitha, 6, and Serenity, 10. The two older children, Dylan, 12, and Kyle, 11, are staying with friends.
“They’re scared; they’re confused, but we have so much help in the community,” Rucker said. “It’s been like a sleepover — just a long sleepover.”
Bruce Labrecque said his wife felt nauseated for a few days before getting the news on March 7. A nurse at Montello Commons, Mary Ellen had no history of heart problems, but she had been diagnosed with a disorder called antiphospholipid syndrome, which causes blood clots.
“The smallest vessels in her heart clotted off, and it kind of killed the bottom part of her heart,” Bruce said. “I had to go home and pack. I sat the four kids down. I said, ‘Mommy’s really sick.'”
Early estimates are that Mary Ellen could be discharged from Brigham and Women’s Hospital in four to six weeks. The hope is she’ll recover enough for a heart transplant or heal so that she won’t need one, Bruce said. Meanwhile, she’s expected to come home connected to a “ventricular assist device.”
He said of the many challenges ahead, one of the first is getting their split-level ranch on South Hatch Hill Road ready for Mary Ellen’s return.
A year ago, in a combination of spring thaw and rain, the couple’s basement flooded with 9 inches of water.
“We put a dehumidifier down there and did the best we could, but now we have black mold all throughout the basement,” he said. “Everything’s got to be sterile. You can’t bring her to the house with mold.”
Friends have stepped in to raise money for those repairs. There’s a bottle drive at Rooper’s and a fund for donations at TD Bank. Employees at Bath Iron Works, where Bruce is a longtime worker, held a gate collection Wednesday.
At Montello Manor, staff have held potluck lunches and raffles to raise money. A resident gave an afghan to the silent auction.
“I think she’s about the most caring, generous person you’d ever want to meet,” said Jeanine Labrecque, director of nursing at Montello Manor and Mary Ellen’s sister-in-law. “Everyone feels like they want to do something. This type of situation, you feel so helpless.”
Bruce said he was touched by the support.
The couple has been married 23 years. They adopted all four of their children after being foster parents.
“This was very sudden,” he said. “You tend to get complacent, especially after being together so long. You always think you guys are going to be together forever. You don’t expect this to happen at this age.”
For more information on fundraisers and donations, contact Vickie Rucker at 576-8999.
kskelton@sunjournal.com
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- The community has pitched in to help the Labrecque family of Greene, from left, Kyle, Tabitha, Bruce, Mary Ellen, Dylan and Serenity. The children are staying with family and friends after Mary Ellen, a nurse, was diagnosed with heart failure in early March.
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- A photo of the device doctors inserted into Mary Ellen Labrecque to keep her alive after a heart attack and heart failure forced her medical team to place her in a drug-induced coma for the past two and a half weeks.
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- Mary Ellen Labrecque
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